Jacques Gelman

Jacques Gelman ( born October 30, 1909 in St. Petersburg, Russia, † 1986) was a film producer and art collector.

Life

Gelman belonged to a noble family, who emigrated after the Russian Revolution to Germany. He studied film production in Berlin and founded in Paris a company for the distribution of films. In 1938, he traveled to Mexico, there to open a branch of his company. Because he was Jewish, he decided at the beginning of World War II, finally to stay in Mexico. There he met Natasha Zahalka know from Czech Republic, whom he married in 1941. In his work as a film producer, he met Mario Moreno " Cantinflas " to know, a well-known comedian. In the 1940s, Jacques and Natasha Gelman purchased a second home in Cuernavaca until they journeyed finally there.

Because of his interest in painting, he learned several Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera know, Frida Kahlo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo and Rafael Cidoncha who portrayed his wife Natasha. Gunther Gerzso, a painter and friend Gelman, painted a portrait Gelman. Most of the pictures in their collection come from them. Together they built the largest private collection of Mexican artists from the years 1910 to 1970. They collected mainly landscape paintings, still lifes and portraits. Other artists who were included in the collection belonged Rufino Tamayo, María Izquierdo, José Clemente Orozco and surrealist painter Leonora Carrington.

After her husband's death Natascha inherited the Mexican collection curator and director Robert Littman today. He founded the " Foundation Vergel " so that the collection in Mexico should be cared for. The Museum " Centro Cultural Muros " was opened in 2004 and should show a approaching 100 paintings of the Mexican collection. The data collected by Gelman paintings by European painters such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Balthus and Amedeo Modigliani were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Filmography

The following films were produced by Jacques Gelman. In Ni sangre, ni arena led Alejandro Galindo Director, in all other Miguel M. Delgado.

Art Collection

Among the best known works from the collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman are:

Catalogue of the art collection:

• Hayden Herrera, Pierre Schneider, Raquel Tibol: La Colección Gelman. La Colección de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Jacques Mexicano y Natasha Gelman. Cuernavaca, Morelos, Museo Muros 2004. ISBN 0-9722164-0-5.